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7 



IRON FROM THE OHIO MOUNDS; A REVIEW OF THE 

STATEMENTS AND MISCONCEPTIONS OF TWO 
Library WRITERS OF OVER SIXTY YEARS AGO. 

BY F. W. PUTNAM. 



THE interesting discovery of masses of meteoric iron, and several 
ornaments made of it, among the objects obtained from two altar 
mounds in the Little Miami valley during the past year, caused me to 
review the statements which have been made in relation to the dis 
covery of iron in the Ohio mounds. It has been generally accepted as 
facts that an iron or steel sword was found by Dr. Hildreth in a mound 
at Marietta, and that an iron blade and a plate of cast iron were found 
by Mr. Atvvater in a mound at Circleville, and these supposed facts have 
been used in four different ways : 

Fir At, as showing that the people who built the mounds had acquired 
the knowledge of manufacturing implements from iron, and hence were 
far in advance of the Indian tribes who afterwards occupied the coun 
try; or 

Secondly, that the ancient mound-builders had occasional intercourse 
with nations farther advanced in the arts than themselves. 

Thirdly, as proving beyond question the recent origin of the mounds : 
since the iron or steel weapons must have been obtained from the 
whites, and therefore the mounds were erected after contact of the 
Indians with the Europeans ; or 

Fourthly, that, while the mounds themselves were very ancient, the 
iron was introduced in recent times in connection with intrusive burials. 

If we examine the original statements from which these deductions 
have been drawn, we shall find the premises do not warrant any of these 
conclusions, from the fact that the evidence does not show that either 
steel, or wrought or cast iron were found. 

While the belief in the great antiquity of the Ohio mounds is not dis 
turbed by these former misconceptions, it is not necessary for us to 
assume that they were made by a people differing in blood from some of 
the more recent tribes of the Short-headed American Mongoloids, some 
of whom may still exist in more or less purity among the present 
Indians; nor are we at all brought in conflict with the unquestionable 



X 



fact that some of the Indian tribes down to very recent times erected 
mounds over their dead. 1 

The reference to iron in the mound at Circleville, by Mr. Atwater, 2 
would not be worthy of consideration, were it not for the widespread 
belief that he found a steel sword and a piece of cast iron. He simply 
found a piece of antler, in one end of which a hole had been bored and 
around this part was a baud of silver. This he called " the handle of 
either a small sword or a large knife," and he distinctly states that "no 
iron was found, but an oxyde remained of similar shape and size." 
This is evidently purely a case of imagination and misconception. 
Similar pieces cut from antler have since proved to be common and 
are generally believed to be handles 3 for small drills and knives made 
of stone or copper. "The oxyde of similar shape and size" to the 
blade of a sword or a knife, could be readily accounted for by one 
familiar with the traces of oxidized copper, iron-colored clay, and 
traces of oxide of iron, which are often met with in mound explora 
tions. 

The other reference, on the same page, is as follows : "A plate of 
iron, which had 'become an oxyde; but before it was disturbed by the 
spade, resembled a plate of cast iron." In these days when only the 
most careful and critical work is of any value, something more definite 
than this statement is required before it can be claimed that cast iron 
has been found in the Ohio mounds. 4 

Fortunately, most of the interesting objects found in June, 1819, in 
a mound at Marietta, Ohio, by Dr. S. P. Hildreth, were presented to 
the Antiquarian Society by Dr. Hildreth, and, through the kindness of 
the officers of the Society, I have had recently the opportunity of 
studying them. As these specimens have become of the first import 
ance in American Archaeology, and as they were not correctly figured 
in the original account, 5 I have thought it of sufficient importance to 
refer to them in detail and to figure them in this connection. 

The account of these interesting specimens was written by Dr. S. P. 
Hildreth, and published in a Marietta paper of July, 1819. This was 



1 See 16th Report of Peabody Museum for an account of the burial 
of Big Elk, an Omaha chief, as one instance. 

2 Archaeologia Americana, Vol. I., p. 178. 1820. 

3 One has been found with a small stone knife still in the perforated 
end, and others with small awl-like points of copper inserted. 

4 Mr. Atwater states that the mound in which these objects were 
found was removed several years before his account was written, and 
we do not know how much of the published statement was given from 
memory. 

5 The three figures given by Squier in his account of the articles, in 
the appendix to his "Aboriginal Monuments of New York," p. 187 
(1849), Smith. Contrib., Vol. II., are also very inaccurate representa 
tions of the silver objects. 



3 




Outer silver-covered surface of Ear-ornament 
from the Marietta Mound. 



reprinted in Mr. Atwater's " Description of the Antiquities discovered 

in the State of Ohio and other Western States." ] 

FIG. 1. The mound in which 

these objects were found 
was in one of the "streets 
of Marietta, on the mar 
gin of the plain, near the 
fortification. * * * * 
They appear to have been 
buried with the body of 
the person to whose 
memory this mound was 
erected. * * * * The 
body of the person here 
buried, was laid on the^ 
surface of the earth, 
with his face upwards. 
***** F r om the 
appearance of several 
pieces of charcoal, and 
bits of partially burnt 
fossil coal, and the black 

color of the earth, it would seem that the funeral obsequies had been 

celebrated by fire; FIG. 2. 

and while the ashes 

were yet hot and 

smoking, a circle of 

thin flat stones had 

been laid .around and 

over the body. The 

circular covering is 

about eight feet in 

diameter. * * * * 

This circle of stones 

seems to have been 

the nucleus on which 

the mound was form 
ed, as immediately 

over them is heaped 

the common earth of 

the adjacent plain, 

composed of a clayey Inner surface of fig. 1. , edge of silver turned over 

sflnd ami rnarsp PTIV from outer surface. 6, circular plate of copper 
upon which silver is laid, c, inner plate of 
copper, d, fibre around central axis. 




d-' 



el. This mound must 



1 Archaeologia Americana, Vol. I., p. 168. 1820. 



originally have been about ten feet high, and thirty feet in diameter at 
its base. ******** It h;ls ev( . ry appearance of being as 
old as any in the neighborhood, and was, at the lirst settlement of 
Marietta covered with large trees *****' 

" Lying immediately over, or on the forehead of the body, were found 
three large circular bosses, or ornaments for a sword belt, or a buckler : 
they are composed of copper, overlaid with a thick plate of silver. [See 
fig. 1.] * I wo of these are yet entire: the third one is so 

much wasted that it dropped in pieces on removing it from the earth. 
Around the rivet of one of them [See fig 2.] is a small quantity of llax 
or hemp, in a tolerable state of preservation." 



Fl 




Inner >nrfare of portion of c< 
part of an Kar-onianient, fro 

Mound. 

been found in other mounds and have 
been described by several authors, 
but their character has heretofore 
not been determined. 

In the chapter on antiquities, p. 
205, of Drake's Picture of Cincinnati, 
published in lsir>, there is an account 
of the contents of a mound which 
formerly stood at the intersection 
of Third and Main streets in Cincin 
nati. A portion of the manv inter 
esting objects taken from this mound 
were described and figured in the 
fourth volume of the Transactions 
of the American Philosophical So 
ciety (170D), by Col. Winthrop 



One of these silver plated 
" bosses," figs. 1, 2, and also- 
port ions of another, with 
out the silver plating, pro 
bably of the one described 
as "so much wasted that it 
dropped in pieces," figs. 3 r 
4, are in the Society's cab 
inet and are here repre 
sented of full size. They 
are of the same character 
as the copper ornaments 
from a mound in Tennessee, 
and described in the Fif 
teenth Report of the Pea- 
body Museum, p. 109. The 
illustrations there given are 
here reproduced for com 
parison, figs. 5, 0. 7. natural 
size. Similar articles have 
Fn;. 4. 




Frair 




FIG. 6. 



FIG. 5. Sargent of Cincinnati, under 

date of September 8, 1794. Mr 
Drake, after referring to these 
objects, states that he after 
wards found a number of other 
things in the same mound, 
which he describes, and among 
them " Several copper articles, 
each consisting of two sets of 
circular concavo-convex plates ; 
the interior one of each set 
connected with the other by a 
hollow axis, around which had 
been wound a quantity of lint" 
(p. 207). He also states that 
several other articles resem 
bling these have been found in 
Franklin, Tenn. other parts of the town, and 

that " they all appear to consist of pure copper, covered with a green 

carbonate of that metal." So far as I am aware, this is the fir'st account 

of objects of this character, and Dr. Hildreth's, four years afterwards, 

is the second. 

Of late years the name of 

"spool-shaped objects" has 

been given to these copper 

ornaments, and at the time I 

wrote the description of those 

from Tennessee I retained the 

name for them, while stating 

that if they had come from 

Mexico or Peru I should have 

little hesitation in regarding 

them as ear-ornaments. At 

that time I had never seen any 

representation, in pottery or 

stone, of a human figure from 

the mounds or graves in the 

TTnif-prl <^tntP with j-nrl lil-P Innor surface of lower half of a Copper Ear- 

United States, with stud-like orimmeut (fi ^ 5 re])m , (Mlt ,s the other 

ear ornaments, similar to those half), showing the fibre wound 

so commonly represented in ^ J^SSST 

the pottery figures of men from Tenn. 

Mexico and Peru. In the many human figures from the United States, 
in the Peabody Museum, on the contrary, the ears were represented as 
pierced by small holes as if for the suspension of earrings. 

The important discoveries made during the last year in mounds in 
Ohio by Dr. C. L. Metz and myself have bf ought to light a large number 
of these interesting copper ornaments, some of which are covered, or 




6 




FIG. 8. 



plated, with thin layers of silver, like those found by Dr. Hildreth r 
while at least one is overlaid in the same manner with a thin sheet of 
meteoric iron. During these explorations there were found a number of 
terra-cotta figurines of a character unlike anything heretofore known 
FIG. 7. from the mounds, and one 

of these, representing in 
miniature a full length 
figure of a man, leaves 
little doubt that these 
" spool-shaped objects " 
and "bosses" are ear- 
ornaments. In this in 
stance the ornament is 
distinctly shown as two 
large discs with the lobe 
A second Copper Far-ornament. *h..wiiiir libre of the ear between them, 
and strip of buckskin wound and tied about A , - .. 

the central portion. From Mound in About thirty of these cop- 
Franklin, Tenn. per, and silver and iron- 
plated ear-ornaments were found on one altar in a mound in the Little 
Miami Valley, and in another mound of the same group three pairs were 
discovered with human skeletons, and in each case one was found on 
the right side and one on the left, near the skull. 

The fact that vegetable fibre and strips 
of buck-skin (preserved by the action of 
the copper) have been found in several of 
these ornaments wound round the central 
axis, or that part of the ornament which 
would come in direct contact with the flesh 
of the ear, is also of importance in the 
conclusion that they are ear-ornaments, 
as the ear was thus protected from the 
copper. 

Dr. Hildreth mentions that "Two small 
pieces of leather were found lying between ' 
the plates of one of the bosses ; they re 
semble the skin of an old mummy, and 

seem to have been preserved by the salts ,<,,,,,,,, to ,. portion* of a 
of the copper." Fragments of these bits human car. From our of 
of leather or skin nre still with the speci- ***SXSi3S3?' 
mens, and are represented in fig. 8; they Marietta .Mound. 

are very much changed in structure and impiegnated with green car 
bonate of copper. Without a very thorough histological study, it would 
be impossible to state with certainty that these bits of skin are or are 
not fragments of the ear-lobe in which the ornament was inserted, but 
in external appearance and microscopical structure they very closely 
resemble the skin from the ear of a Peruvian mummy. 

In referring to the silver covering on the ' bosses" found by Dr. Hil- 




dreth, Mr. Squier writes " These articles have been critically examined, 
and it is beyond doubt that the copper ;< bosses " are absolutely plated, 
not simply overlaid, with silver. Between the copper and the silver 
exists a connection such as, it seems to me, could only be produced by 
heat; and if it is admitted that these are genuine remains of the Mound- 
builders, it must at the same time be admitted that they possessed the 
difficult art of plating one metal upon another. There is but one 
alternative, viz : that they had occasional or constant intercourse with a 
people advanced in the arts, from whom these articles were obtained." 

In all this I must differ from the distinguished writer to whom Ameri 
can archaeologists are more indebted than to any other one person. A 
careful study of the Hildreth specimens,' and also of the silver and iron- 
covered specimens in the Peabody Museum, has shown conclusively 
that the plating has been done simply by covering the outer surfaces of 
the objects with thin sheets of the overlaid metal, which were closely 
united to the copper simply by pounding and rubbing, and by turning 
the edges over and under the slightly concave edge of the copper foun 
dation. This method was followed in all the objects from the mounds 
and stone-graves, where thin layers of native copper, silver, or iron, 
have been connected with one another, or when copper or silver have 
been used to cover beads and discs made of wood. 

These ear ornaments exhibit a degree of skill in working the native 
metals of copper, silver and iron, simply by hammering, which is con 
clusive evidence of the advance made by early American tribes in orna 
mental art. The method of their manufacture seems to have been 
somewhat as follows : A circular piece of native copper l was formed 
FIG. 9. 





Portions of Copper Ear-ornaments from an 
altar in a Mound in the Little Miami 

Valley, Ohio. 
Fig. 9. Inner strengthening pieces of Copper. 
Fig. 10. Inner parts showing the central hollow rivet at a. 

by hammering, probably over a wooden pattern, into the concavo-con 
vex form shown in the several figures. Two such circular pieces 



1 Among the important material, already referred to, from an altar in 
a mound in the Little Miami Valley, explored for the Peabody Museum 
during the past season, were two halves of these ornaments made of 
meteoric, or native, iron, instead of copper as in all other specimens of 
which we have knowledge. 



formed the two outer portions of the ornament. To the inner side of 
these, either roughly shaped circular pieces or cross bars, tig. 9, were 
closely fitted by hammering, and over these, in some instances, another 
circular piece was fitted. Through all these pieces a central hole was 
punched, through this a cylinder of copper was passed, the ends of 
which were expanded and closely hammered down, firmly uniting the 
two principal concavo-convex pieces together. In SOUK; specimens this 
hollow- rivet was clinched so as to unite all the inner pieces together, as 
shown in fig. 10, and through it was passed another and more delicate 
cylinder which held the two outer pieces in place. The outer pieces 
were then most carefully hammered and rubbed until the expanded 
edgeS of the central rivet were so closely united to them as hardly to be 
traced, or, as is more often the case in the more than thirty specimens 
I have examined, the two outer pieces were carefully overlaid by thin 
sheets of native copper, silver, or iron, forming a plating like the one 
covered with silver, obtained by Dr. Hildreth, and now in the collection 
of this Society. Around the central axis vegetable fibre, bits of buck 
skin, or other material, was probably wound to protect the ear from 
contact with the copper. As already stated, such wrappings have been 
preserved on several of the specimens. In the drawing representing 
the silver-covered specimen from the Marietta mound, the several parts 
are indicated by letters. 

To insert one of these ornaments, a slit, equal in length to the diame 
ter of the ornament, would have to be made in the lobe of the ear, but 
when we recall the immense size of the slits made in the ears by some 
Indians, those necessary for the insertion of these ornaments become 
very slight in comparison. t 

Dr. Hildreth, in his account of the objects from the Marietta mound, 
writes about the next to receive attention as follows : " Near the side 
of the body was found a plate of silver, which appears to have been the 
upper part of a sword scabbard : it is six inches in length and t\vo in 
breadth, and weighs one ounce; it has no ornaments or figures, but has 
three longitudinal ridges, 1 which probably correspond with edges, or 
ridges, of the sword. It seems to have been fastened to the scabbard 
by three or four rivets, the holes of which yet remain in the silver." 

Figures 11, 12, represent, of full size, the two sides of this supposed 
" ornament of a scabbard." As stated by Dr. Hildreth, it is made of 
pure silver. It was formed by hammering a mass of native silver into 
a thin sheet about five and a quarter inches long by four in width, which 
was then folded over so that the two ragged edges met alon- the centre 
of the under or flattened side, making a baud which would cover an 
object about half an inch thick and one and three-quarters in width. 
Along these ragged edges six small holes have been punched. The 



1 It is strange that the discrepancy between this account and the fig 
ures given in the Archasologia, ami also by Squier, which represent the 
band with five ridges, has not been noticed. 



FIG. 11. 



FIG. 12. 




Silver Band or Ornament. From the Marietta Mound. Fig. 11, under, flat 

surface ; fig. 12, upper, corrugated portion. 

four near the ends are nearly opposite to each other, while the two near 
the central portion are placed one slightly above the other. These 
holes were probably intended for the purpose of fastening the edges 
together by strings, or else for securely fixing the band to some other 



10 



object. On the opposite surface are the three longitudinal elevations, 

FIG. 13. with two deep corresponding de- 

^x*"* > ^^ X. .-, _ pressions between them, which 



^ <=^_ _y 



in Franklin. Tnm. This section is 
taken at a, fig. 15. 
FIG. 14. 



could have been easily made by 
usin a round stick (See fig. 13.) 
The smooth cut made at upper cor 
ner on the under side, is evidently 
where a piece of the metal has 
been cut off for examination since 
it was found. 

FIG. 15. 




OppnMlr Mirfar.- <>!' OppiT Hand. I'Y<nii Mound iii Franklin. Trim. 



11 

In the Fifteenth Report of the Peabocly Museum, p. 106, I have given* 
a description of an ornament almost identical with this in shape and 
size, but which was made of native copper. It was found in tho same 
mound in Tennessee with the two ear-ornaments already referred 
to. For the purpose of showing the similarity of the silver and 
copper bands the figures of the Tennessee specimen are here repro 
duced as figures 14, 15. 

In the account of the specimens obtained from the mound in Cincin 
nati explored in 1794, to which I have already referred in connection 
with the ear-ornaments, Col. Sargent describes and figures 1 a similar 
corrugated band made of copper, which is nearly identical in size with 
the one of silver obtained by Dr. Hildreth. 

Col. Sargent's description of this copper band is as follows : " Fig. 10. 
A piece of sheet or plate copper, which seems to have been wrought 
into an ornament for the hair; this, however, only conjecture: No. 1 
shows the back and folding parts with four perforations. No. 2 is 
intended to give an idea of the other side, which is swelled longitu 
dinally into three pipes or divisions. The remains of some smaller 
pipes enclosed and now almost mouldered away, seem to destroy the 
idea of its being originally meant as a mere hair ornament." 

The ''smaller pipes enclosed and almost wasted away" were very 
likely portions of the inner layers of the copper separated by oxidation 
of the metal. The figure given in the Philosophical Transactions 
probably represents the object more as the discoverer supposed it 
appeared when perfect, as the edges and surface are altogether too 
even and smooth for a piece of copper containing other pieces which 
had "almost wasted away." The suggestion that the ornament was 
one for the hair is worthy of consideration, as in one of the terra-cotta 
figurines from the altar of a mound in the Little Miami valley, to which, 
I have already referred, the hair is represented as done up in three 
parallel plates crossing the back of the head, just as it would appear 
were the hair passed through such a corrugated band as here described. 
In the specimen from a mound in Tennessee there were the remains of 
pieces of wood from which fact I was led to believe that the copper 
band may have been fastened to wood and attached as an ornament to a 
belt or some other part of the dress of its owner. 

To these three specimens I have now the opportunity of adding a 
fourth. This is made of meteoric iron, and was found in the mass of 
materials from the altar of a mound in the Little Miami Valley to which 
allusion has several times been made. It is represented of full size in* 
fig. 16, and was made by hammering a mass of meteoric iron, in the 



transactions of the American Philosophical Societv, Vol. IV., p. 
180, figs. 10 1 , 10 2 . 1799. 



12 



-same way that masses of silver ami copper were hammered in making 

the three already mentioned. 1 

FIG. IK. It is worthy of note that all 

lour of these corrugated hands 
of identical pattern were found 
associated with stud-like ear- 
ornaments. 

The next object from the 
Marietta mound is mentioned 
by Dr. Hildreth as follows: 
" Two or three broken pieces 
of a copper tube were also 
found, filled with iron rust. 
These pieces, from their ap 
pearance, composed the lower 
end of the scabbard, near the 
point of the sword. No sign 
of the sword itself was dis 
covered, except the appearance 
of rust above mentioned." 

These pieces of "a copper 
tube" are represented of full 
size in lig. 17, and consist of 
fragments of a small copper 
cylinder, or bead, such as have 
been very often found in the 
mounds and in graves in vari 
ous parts of the country. In 
my article on copper objects 
in the Peabody Museum.- sev 
eral lots of similar cylindrical 
copper beads are described and 
figured. In every ease they 




Valley, Ohio. thin piece of hammered native 

copper upon itself, and the one from the Marietta mound is no exception 
to this method of manufacture. In this specimen the copper has 
changed to a red carbonate, and has become very brittle from oxida 
tion. In places, particularly in the fragment shown on the right of the 
figure, the surface is covered by a green carbonate of copper and here 
and there bits of charcoal and other extraneous materials have been 



*A full account of the interesting irroup of mounds in the Little 
Miami Valley, with descriptions and illustrations of the many object- 
found, will be given in the memoir prepared jointly by Dr. C. L. Metz 
and myself and to be published by the 1'eabody Museum. 

2 Fifteenth Hcport, Cambridge, 18S2. 



13 

united to the copper during its change to the carbonate. The central 
portion of the cylinder has .been crushed together aud the portion on 
the left of the flgure has been broken lengthwise into two pieces- 

FIG. 17. 





Broken Bead or Cylinder of Copper. From the Marietta Mound. 

Not a particle of iron rust could be found in the folds and cavities of 
the bead, and it can hardly be doubted that the oxide of copper was 
mistaken by Dr. Hildreth for oxide of iron. 

In this instance we see how easily it is to let our imagination rim 
away with our facts. Not a shadow of a sword can be traced in this 
connection ; the point of the supposed scabbard is a common copper 
bead ; the supposed upper part of the scabbard is an ornament of a 
particular pattern,- of which three others almost identical in shape are 
known from other mounds; and the u bosses " or supposed ornaments- 
of a sword belt are ear-rings. Yet for over sixty years archaeologists 
have had the mythical swords from the Marietta and Circleville mounds 
held over them as proofs that all the mounds were of recent date, and 
that these in particular were erected after contact of the Indians with 
the whites. 

Dr. Hildreth's account continues " Near the feet was found a piece of 
copper, weighing three ounces. From its shape it appears to have been 
used as a plumb, or for an ornament, as near one of the ends is a 
circular crease, or groove, for tying a thread; it is round, two inches 
and a half in length, one inch in diameter at the centre, and half an inch 
at each end. It is composed of small pieces of native copper, pounded 
together; and in the cracks between the pieces, are stuck several pieces 
of silver; one nearly the size of a fourpenny piece, or half a dime. 
This copper ornament was covered with a coat of green rust, and is 
considerably corroded. A piece of red ochre, or paint, and a piece of 
iron ore which has the appearance of having been partially vitrified, or 
melted, were also found. The ore is about the specific gravity of pure 
iron." 

The copper "plumb" mentioned by Dr. Hildreth and here repre 
sented as fig. 18, is a very interesting specimen, and is the only instance, 
so far as I know, of copper having been used in making objects of this 
character. Hundreds of similar form, made of different kinds of stone, 
and of hematite, have been found in mounds or on the surface all over 
the western and southern states, occasionally in New England, and 
have been generally classed as sinkers, although I am personally more 
inclined to regard many of them as having been used for other pur- 



11 



poses. It would hardly seem probable that a matt-rial of tin- value of 
-copper for ornamental work and for cutting "implements, would have 
been used for sinkers for nets or fishing lines when stones would answer 
equally well; and the adaptability of an article for a particular use is 
not always a safe guide in determining its character. Such object > a^ 
these were as well if not better fitted for use in stretching the threads 
over the frame of a hand loom in weaving, and we now know that the 
builders of the mounds were good weavers. They also could have been 
enclosed in skins and used as slung-shots, or many of the smaller sizes. 
like this one of copper, could well be classed as personal ornaments. 
FIG. 18. Whatever may have 

been the use of this 
particular specimen it 
is of interest as having 
been made by pound 
ing together an arbor 
escent mass (not bits 
as stated by Dr. Hil- 
dreth) of native copper 
containing native sil 
ver, and such a mass 
was probably derived 
from the copper region 
of Lake Superior, in 
which place the two 
metals occur thus as 
sociated in arborescent 
or foliated masses. 
The silver therefore 
Copper Ornament or Implement from the Marietta -_.. ^-^h-ihlv nnt in 
Sound. The white portions at lower end repre- " as P robabl > ' 

sent the >il\ ei- a> MTU from <>ppiie sides. serted in the cracks of 

the copper, as supposed by Dr. Hildreth, but is in its natural position 
in the mass, and has simply been pounded and shaped with the copper. 

Red ochre, mentioned in the last quotation, is often found in mounds 
and in graves, not only in America but in other parts of the world as 
well, and is the universal red paint of man in past times. 

The statement that a piece of "iron ore" was found in the mound 
is one of great interest, now that we know from the discoveries of the 
past year that the peculiar and malleable qualities of meteoric iron 
were known to the builders of the group of mounds in the Little Miami 
Valley, and it is unfortunate that, while the other articles mentioned in 
the account are now in the cabinet of the Society, this iron ore can not 
now be found. Mr. Squier, in quoting Dr. Hildreth's statement, 
considers that the ore was a piece of polished hematite, but he does not 
state that he examined the specimen. He simply puts the word 
hematite in brackets after the words "iron ore," and the word 





15 

polished after the quotation of the word " vitrified." As he states 
distinctly that he examined the silver plated "boss," he may also have 
seen the " iron ore," and as he was familiar with implements and 
ornaments made of hematite he may have examined the specimen and 
correctly designated its character in this way. He however puts a 
question mark after his insertion of the word "polished" which leads 
me to conclude that he had not seen the specimen. In its absence, 
however, it is useless to attempt to discuss its true character, although 
the probability is that it was hematite, which is often found in the 
mounds ; but there is a possibility that it was a small mass of meteoric 
iron. 

In this paper I have endeavored, in the proper spirit of scientific 
criticism, to call attention to the misconceptions of these early writers 
in relation to the interesting and important discoveries and observa 
tions which they made; not with the view of finding fault with what 
they wrote, but with a hope that their misconceptions, now that their 
statements are compared with the facts obtained in later years, and 
corrected in the light of recent discoveries, will no longer stand in the 
way of the correct interpretation of the story of the mounds, which we 
are now able to read with clearer eyes than in the days when nearly 
every fact observed was thought worthless unless it could be immedi 
ately accounted for, and the unknown became intelligible by the applica 
tion of the power of the imagination. 



